Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cj1976]

..according to this journalist.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html

[happeningthang]

According to Naomi Wolf, isn't it?

Interesting article that makes some valid points. I hope she's wrong.

[spliff]

Believe everything you read, eh there moron?

[Bibbitybop]

[lastat06513]

I read the article briefly and I was thinking of writing a long, drawn-out posting, like I do most of the time, but nothing major came to mind.


The only thing I can say is; a coup can NEVER happen in the US for two reasons;

1. The first amendment

and terrifying enough....

2. The second amendment

[happeningthang]

Perhaps you should read the whole article. The idea of a coup was never mentioned.

[lastat06513]

I know, but for a major transition from one political system (democratic) to another (fascist) would involve some drastic undertaking, like a coup.
And for the author of the article to use Thailand as an example of a government being overran by the military is abit amatuerish on his part.

What the author, and some on this board, might not know, is that the military has intervened in Thai politics since the early 70's, with swift elections scheduled thereafter. What most people don't know is that nothing there happens, politically I mean, without explicit consent of the Royal court, which did give its royal seal of approval after the coup happened.

The measures he was talking about is happening not only in the US, but in many countries in the EU; France is on the verge of electing an fanatic as president in light of the riots that happened in and around Paris that were, in many people's eyes, racially motivated. So, would you say that much of the western world is falling under the heels of "fascism"?

The measures taken now [IE, Patriot Act, the war in Iraq, racial profiling] are something that are imposed based on the reviews of a particular administration; and it is up to the next administration to decide to keep implimenting them or discard them.

I can honestly say will some degree of accuracy, that many of the policies we see now will be scrapped by the next president.

I, as an voting, tax-paying, service-bearing American, hope the next president is alot more responsible than the monkey we elected this time.

[Gopher]

Someone publishes an allegation that America is "fascist" in The Guardian. Dave's posters reprint it (and on the wrong forum, no less). Fascinating how disagreeing with anyone always entails calling them "fascist" or bringing up "Hitler," too.

No me digas.

But one can criticize the W. Bush Administration without resulting to scare-tactics and hyperbole.

[lastat06513]

Not really....
I got a dose of foreign policy under "pax Americana" as soon as I entered Korea; I encountered how people, even the police, feel about Americans as well as how diplomatic staff feels about its compatriots (I'll give you a hint- the staff at the chinese embassy were more welcoming).

Not all posted articles should be thrown in the current events forum, because that would it be a big generalization.

[Gopher]

[eamo]

I can tell you as a European that we are a little bit scared of the Bush style of doing things. Disregard world opinion and UN rulings. Just do what you like. I really hope that style of diplomacy dies with Bush.

[Gopher]

[bobbyhanlon]

don't take the guardian too seriously. i used to enjoy it but since the whole bush/iraq/islam/september 11th stuff started up, that paper has gone off the deep end. even though i'm probably a bit of a lefty on most issues, i'm almost embarrassed to read the guardian at times. the constant hatred of israel, people with money, the royal family, america, etc. verges on paranoia and prejudice. its like reading noam chomsky, only with spelling mistakes.
i love that all their content is available online for free though, and because of that i read it every day. when back in england though, i like to read the guardian together with the telegraph, to get a nice hegelian synthesis, if that's not being too pretentious...

[happeningthang]

[mack4289]

She should also mention that all ten of these things have happened before in America.

Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy: Communists.

Create a gulag- Japanese internment camps.

Develop a thug caste- This is a stretch in her article but the police in America have been used for plenty of purposes beyond protecting and serving the people (breaking up protests of all kinds, they were especially brutal on strikers).

Set up an internal surveillance system- Hoover's FBI had files on Martin Luther King, Jr, John Lennon and God knows who else.

Harass citizens' groups- Hoover's FBI.

Engage in arbitrary detention and release- Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during The Civil War. The Japanese internment camps.

Target key individuals- The academics and entertainers brought before Congress during the McCarthy trials.

Control the press- Lincoln censored the press. The Committee of Public Information during World War I.

Dissent equals treason- An argument that has been pushed by every country, everywhere, during any time that country was at war.

Suspend the rule of law- Again, happens in every country at any time they're at war.

The point is not that these things aren't alarming. It's just that America has experienced it before and gotten through it. Then this point sounds very familiar, "As Americans turn away quite leisurely, keeping tuned to internet shopping and American Idol, the foundations of democracy are being fatally corroded. Something has changed profoundly that weakens us unprecedentedly: our democratic traditions, independent judiciary and free press do their work today in a context in which we are "at war" in a "long war" - a war without end, on a battlefield described as the globe, in a context that gives the president - without US citizens realising it yet - the power over US citizens of freedom or long solitary incarceration, on his say-so alone." Americans (only Americans?) are more interested in pop culture than politics and serious matters? Jesus, is there anything more boring and tired than this? Notice she says Americans "turn away" and talks about profound changes, as if America was, in the past, somehow much more interested in politics and less pre-occupied with pop culture. Granted, voter turnout has fallen, but the way some writers act like there was a lost golden age of political engagement that was ruined by American Idol is such nonsense.

Her point about the "never-ending war" is a very true one and I'd be frightened to see what would happen in the US if another attack happened. I just wish a sharper, less sanctimonious writer would tackle the subject.